What Police Reform in the U.S. Could Look Like

There are many groups protesting Police violence against unarmed Civilians like the National Black Lives Matter movement. Unfortunately, there are very few concrete policy suggestions to help make Policing work better for everyone. Here are a few from the group Campaign Zero.

Campaign Zero is a group founded by noted activist DeRay Mckesson. Their mission is to create a world “where the police don’t kill people by limiting police interventions, improving community interactions, and ensuring accountability”.

The difference I’ve seen in this group as opposed to others is that every they suggest can be turned into legislation. It doesn’t mean these ideas are or will be popular, but they are concrete and are all ways Government could step in and make fixes to what feels to be a broken police system. I’ve paraphrased Campaign Zero’s goals below, added a few of my own, but basically followed the ideas presented in the above graphic.

Each section will start out with a discussion of the problem area, or a definition, then the relevant solutions. One thing I did do that Campaign Zero did not, was break up the Solutions Section into two parts: Local and Federal. Local Solutions involve County, City or State Governments. Federal usually means Federal or Congressional Government. It’s important to know who to lobby because it’s not always your Congressman, but it could be your local Mayor or your local County Executive.

This list of ideas should not be seen as a hard list of demands. I may not agree with Campaign Zero on everything they say, but I’ll tell you what…they’re in the right ballpark. They have focused on the areas that need focusing on. I just want this list to be a jumping-off point, the start of a discussion. There may be things that I or Campaign Zero have not considered. If there are things we haven’t considered, let’s talk about them. Let’s not be afraid to have the discussion.